History of Inter-religious Dialogue Ministry
Early Attempts in Dialogue Ministry
In Patna Mission, the Capuchin missionaries who established their Hindustan-Tibet Mission at Patna in 1706 did commendable job in dialogue through their study and writings on Hinduism. The first attempt was a book of dialogue between a Hindu and Christian written by Fr. Joseph Mary Bernini, who founded the Bettiah Mission in 1745. The more notable contributions were of Frs. Joseph Rovato and Mark della Tomba who studied various Hindu religious traditions such as the Kapirpanth, and wrote or translated a few Hindu sacred texts.
Dialogue Activities by Patna Jesuits in the Past
The Patna Jesuits, who shouldered the responsibility of the Church in Bihar from the Capuchins in 1919, carried on dialogue mainly through their pastoral work which involved catering to the existing Christian communities, establishing new mission centres which involved much interaction with people of other religions. Some of the early efforts were the works of Fr. Henry Westropp, Fr. Varghese Kappamootil and Fr. Augustine Perumalil. Fr. Westropp, along with Fr. Brennan and Fr. Bernard Haas founded the Catholic Information Centre at Patna and through this centre they were able to reach out to people of other religions in the 1950s. But this effort came to an end in the early 1980s. Fr. Kappamootil initiated dialogue with non-Christians at Siwan in the 1950s and was able to establish cordial relationship with them. Fr. Perumalil as Mukhya of Morpa village was able to reach out to people of other religions. Fr. Alfred Poovattil, combined his pastoral work with attempts at dialogue with the Hindus.
Though inter-religious dialogue as a distinct ministry in the Province with full time or part-time personnel evolved only in 1997, there were notable contributions by individuals earlier in promoting inter-faith dialogue and harmony. For instance, the specialized studies on other religions (Hinduism) by Jesuit Frs. T. K. John, Fr. Joseph Vellaringatt and Fr. Thomas Chillikulam are notable contributions in this line. Since 1980s (late) Fr. Paul Jackson, SJ was engaged in scholarly research and translation of the works of the Sufi Saint Sharafuddin Maneri from Persian to English and was involved in Christian-Muslim dialogue. The study of Buddhism by Fr. Susai Laurence, SJ in recent times is another example in this line.
Through socio-pastoral ministries and through institutions of other ministries, dialogue with other religious groups have been carried out by a few individuals.
Manthan the Social Action Centre at Khagaul, founded in 1979 under the pioneering initiative of Fr. Philip Manthara, SJ did much to promote justice through inter-religious action. Manthan’s association with movements such as Insaani Ekta Muhim, Hum Log and People Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) helped it to join hands with inter-religious groups in fighting communalism, fundamentalism and other social evils. The involvement of this centre in peace-building activities during communal riots in Biharshariff (1981), Patna City (1989) and Sitamarhi (1992) are commendable.
Jeevan Sangham, a centre for dialogue at Bodh Gaya, established in 1994, has been making attempts to combine social action and inter-faith dialogue. Jeevan Sangham also initiated an inter-faith social organization called ‘Pragatisheel Vicharmanch‘, the aim of which was to promote secular values. The founder of dialogue initiative at Bodh Gaya, (late) Fr. Sumit Edwin Menezes, SJ maintained good rapport with a few Venerable Buddhist Monks and organized joint activities to promote clean and green Bodhgaya by planting trees and plants in collaboration with Tarumitra. To strengthen Inter-religious Dialogue and Harmony, Venerable Vimalsar Thera, a Sri Lankan monk, Fr. Sumit and a few members from Jainism, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism founded an Inter-Faith Forum around 1996. Since then this Forum has been promoting Inter-religious Dialogue and Communal Harmony through inter-religious prayer services, peace processions, inter-religious seminars, etc. Maitri Deep was a tentative and unofficial name given to the Centre of Dialogue Ministry in Bodhgaya.
Navjyoti Niketan Patna and Ravi Bharati had organized inter-faith celebration of festivals for about 20 years. Such celebrations of festivals have not only helped people of other religions feel at home with one another but also helped promote awareness among priests and religious. Inter-Faith Christmas celebrations and renewal seminars on dialogue and other religions were annual features at Navjyoti.
The students and staff of Gyanodaya Regional Theology Centre (RTC), Patna had undertaken several dialogue initiatives as part of their theologizing process. For their exposure to Islam they stayed in Madarsas and with Muslim families and engaged in deeper dialogue with the Muslim community and Islamic theology. Their annual sojourn in Varanasi took them to Hindu Ashrams, holy men and women, temples, Ganga ghats and other sacred places and helped them open up and understand Hindu theology and popular religiosity. The annual Satsang or inter-religious prayer at Gyanodaya attracted crowds of people of other religions from around the villages. Gyanodaya also used to celebrate all the major local festivals such as Chatt, Diwali, etc., along with the neighbours.
Tarumitra Ashram, the environmental centre and most social centres have been engaged in inter-faith activities in one form or other. The Masihi Satsang programme of Sadhu Shilanand has been making laudable efforts towards dialogue through popularizing Isayan (Life of Christ) in Bhojpuri and Magahi dialects among people of other religions.
Fr. Jose Kalapura, SJ from Xavier Institute of Social Research (XISR) Patna has been organizing inter-religious Christmas Milan (gathering) at Navjyoti since 2013. He also regularly participated or gave inputs at such inter-religious festival celebrations (at Holi, Deepawali, Id, etc), organized by other groups. Many of our schools have been making efforts to make students aware of the need for respect for all religions and interfaith harmony at varying degrees.
Dialogue Activities under the Dialogue Commission
Dialogue activities are mainly undertaken actively at Patna and Bodh Gaya in the past two decades. The members of the Commission are involved in dialogue activities in their respective places of work.
Patna Peace Mission Centre:
At Patna, a forum called ‘Harmony Inter-Faith Forum’ was formed by Fr. Thomas Chillikulam, SJ and leaders of other religions in 2005. The Forum with a regular membership of over 50 people from different religions, envisioned building close relationship between people of different religions with a view to combating communalism, jointly fighting against social evils and building a just and more humane society in Bihar. Inter-faith celebration of festivals at venues of different religious communities, seminars and programmes aimed at harmony for school children were undertaken by the Forum. Fr. Thomas participated or gave input lectures during inter-religious celebration of festivals. Fr. Peter Arockiasamy, while being engaged in education work, was also part of such harmony-building activities.
Fr Jose Kalapura organized 36 nukkad (street play) shows on communal harmony, peace and national integration in 28 schools in collaboration with the school authorities in Patna covering some 35,000 students since early 2017. He also coordinated with Fr. Lawrence, a series of nukkads in the schools and Magadh University campus and at a public place from July 26-28, 2017 at Bodh Gaya. The street plays focused on communal harmony and made the youth aware of the manner in which fundamentalists misguide students on others’ religions. A professional team of street play theatre artists were employed for this programme.
It has been observed that on Christmas Day thousands of non-Christians, particularly Hindus visit the cribs and pray to Mother Mary and child Jesus at churches in Bihar. Using this occasion, Jose Kalapura got printed thousands of leaflets (some 20,000-25,000) on Christmas peace including the meaning of crib, Santa Claus, star, carol, etc, and made them available to scores of parishes to be freely distributed to the visitors with the collaboration of parish priests. This has become an annual feature since 2018.
For promoting respect for all religions he has published a book entitled, Sacred Texts and Values for Life, for use in schools and colleges. The book contains sacred texts and sayings of sages and saints of various religions on certain core values in different religions. A similar book onfestivals and feasts of different religions is under publication for use in schools and colleges. The aim of these books is to foster communal harmony through greater understanding of others’ religions and religious celebrations and encouraging inter-religious participation in festival celebration.
Bodh Gaya, Jeevan Sangham
At Bodh Gaya, Jeevan Sangham centre, there have been quite a few activities the major one being related to the Bodh Gaya bomb blast in 2013. A communal harmony organization called Shanti Sadbhavana Committee was formed soon after the blast. The first anniversary of this tragedy on July 7, 2014 was remembered in an inter-religious prayer meeting preceded by fast in the Temple precincts which concluded in a candle march. On the second anniversary of the blast, a candle light march from the Burmese Temple to the Bodh Tree was held, followed by a public assembly outside, whence a talk on peace was delivered.
During his second tenure at Bodh Gaya since 2014 Fr. Lawrence has been involved in many peace-promoting activities in various ways. The 6th International Buddhist-Christian Colloquium of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue was organized in Bodh Gaya in 2015, under the leadership of the Jesuits in Jeevan Sangham. Sequel to this was the founding in 2015 of the Inter-Religious Friends’ Association (IRFA), in collaboration with friends from six religions. The main objective of this forum is to bring together people of all religions and traditions through various activities so that they can grow in mutual understanding, friendship, unity, harmony and support.
The Jesuits at Bodh Gaya along with IRFA organized the Jesuit-Buddhist International Conference of the Asia-Pacific Jesuits in March 2016 at Bodh Gaya. Training school children and youth to walk in the path of compassion, non-violence, respect for all religions and communal harmony has been the main thrust of IRFA since 2016. Activities such as essay competition for school children, Inter-religious Buddha Jayanti celebration, Inter-religious Wisdom Sharing, youth seminar, drama competition for school children on the theme non-violence, etc., were organized since then. In 2017 it organized an interactive session with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Bodh Gaya wherein some 4500 students participated. Twenty High Schools around Bodh Gaya were contacted for a talk on Gandhi’s life and values by IRFA. It also distributed 500 booklets on Gandhi at subsidized cost. Six quiz completions were organized in schools and inter-colleges. Inter-religious Christmas Gathering has been a special feature every year. Both Jesuits and the Sisters at Bodh Gaya participated at Prayer Services held under the Mahabodhi Tree on various occasions such as the 125th anniversary of the birth of Anaharika Dharmapala, the founder of the Mahabodhi Society of India. Budha Purnima in May was another occasion.